The Journal of Immunology, Vol 148, Issue 4 1012-1015, Copyright © 1992 by American Association of Immunologists

ARTICLES

Human postnatal thymocytes generate phenotypically immature CD3dim, CD5dim, CD1abright progeny in organ culture

M Merkenschlager and AG Fisher
Department of Immunology, Institute de Chimie Biologique, Strasbourg, France.

We previously described an organ culture system that supports the in vitro development of human fetal thymocytes in murine alymphoid thymic rudiments without addition of exogenous factors. This approach to study human T cell precursors is limited by the requirement for fetal tissue. We show that human thymocytes from pediatric sources can be expanded under similar conditions. Organ cultures generated predominantly CD4 CD8 double positive cells, most of which maintained the phenotype CD3dim, CD5dim, and CD1abright, characteristic for double positive thymocytes ex vivo. This culture system should facilitate in vitro studies on human thymocyte development and repertoire selection.

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